In the field of printing systems, users desire that print jobs be consistently presented across a variety of printers and display devices. In order to ensure uniformity in presentation, print jobs include print data that is often defined according to uniform standards such as page description languages, which are meant to specifically indicate the positioning and structure of printed elements on a given page. Accompanying the print data may be a job ticket or other instructions for processing the print data of the job or processing the printed sheets of the job (e.g., stapling of the pages after print, hole-punching the pages, etc.)
Unfortunately, each printer or display may utilize different color schemes (e.g., RGB vs. CMYK), different resolutions, and different processing algorithms than its peers. This in turn means that the final product presented to a user by such devices may vary significantly. Because of this, users desire print previews that provide not only an indication of how the print job should appear according to the page description language, but also an indication of how the print job will actually be printed at a specific device. Using such print previews, a user may discover an issue with how a job will be printed before the job is initiated at a printer. For high-volume or expensive print jobs, reviewing a print preview for a job before initiating printing can potentially save a great deal of money and time.
Preferably, print previews are generated by the Raster Image Processors (RIPs) of the device that is intended to print a given job. These print previews reliably show how the print job will be printed, because they are generated by the image processing components of the device that will actually be printing the job. Print previews are generally desirable to users, and users desire methods and systems that enhance the functionality of print previews within printing systems.